Creating the Location column

What is the location column? The location column is a column within a Socrata dataset with the data type 'Location' . When address information is inputted into this column our platform uses a third party geocoding service to geocode this information into a latitude and longitude which can be plotted on a map. For more on valid geocoding formats of location information, please follow this link.

Upon the import process there is an intermediary stage where one is able to review the columns of data in the underlying data file and see the data types the platform interprets the data in these columns to be (Plain Text, Number, Money, etc.). If the platform detects any column data which resembles location information (street address, zip, state, city) - it will automatically generate a location column.

The structure of the location column

This column will be called 'Location 1' (you can change this name) and will be set to the Data Type of 'Location'. This datatype is important because this is a signal for our platform to send location column data to the geocoding service to return the corresponding latitude and longitude.

Depending on how you have your location information formatted in the underlying data file there are different ways to go about configuring the location column.

1. If you have multiple columns of location data:

A. Import from multiple columns: If you have your location information within individual columns they will be selected to be the street address, city, state and/or zip code.

Note: Sometimes our platform doesn't automatically select a column (mostly due to the header being named something less obvious) - in this case you should select the column from the menu drop-down if you have that information in you dataset. You also have the option to manually enter the City, State and or Zip Code which would apply to all of the addresses you wish to geocode in this column.

B. Import existing Latitude and Longitude columns : If you have the latitude and longitude information in separate columns in the underlying dataset, the platform will pull them into these two fields. Otherwise, they will be left blank and the other address fields will be used for geocoding instead.

2. If you have a single column of location data:

A. Import from a single column: If you have formatted your location information to be within a single column in this format "Street address City, State Zip Code (+/-latitude, +/-longitude)", you can select this column to be the location column.

Note: It is possible to have a dataset which contains more than 1 geocoded location columns. We recommend standardizing the addresses (for example Address 1, City 1, etc.. Address 2, City 2, etc..)